http://www.voanews.com/
25
August 2011
Experts say it is now unlikely any investigation – independent
or not – will
uncover the real cause of General Solomon Mujuru’s death,
especially as the
police did not secure the charred house to protect
potential evidence
Violet Gonda & Sandra Nyaira |
Washington
Zimbabwean ministers said Thursday that there has been no
formal Cabinet
discussion of the death of retired General Solomon Mujuru
despite statements
by his widow, Vice President Joice Mujuru, saying she
suspects foul play,
and calls for an inquest.
Several ministers
speaking on condition of anonymity told VOA reporter
Violet Gonda that aside
from the announcement of Mujuru’s death by President
Robert Mugabe and
condolence messages, the cabinet has not delved into the
cause of the blaze
August 16 blaze in which the retired General was
initially believed to have
perished.
The issue came up in the Cabinet this week only because
Information Minister
Webster Shamu of ZANU-PF protested comments by Finance
Minister Tendai Biti,
secretary general of the Movement for Democratic
Change formation of Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, accusing the former
ruling party of having a
hand in Mujuru’s death.
”The issue is really
raw," said one minister speaking on condition of
anonymity. "ZANU-PF is in
such a crisis they don’t want to discuss it.”
Police have not yet
released any findings of their investigation, but there
is general
skepticism that their probe will make clear what happened at the
farm in
Beatrice district outside Harare that the Mujurus obtained in the
course of
the land reform process.
Queried on the lack of discussion in the cabinet
of the General’s death,
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga
confirmed that the issue has
not been discussed, saying it is "sensitive,"
adding that it was early days
for an inquest to be called.
Experts
say it is unlikely any investigation – independent or not – will
ever
uncover the real cause of Mujuru’s death, noting that the fire-ravaged
house
and grounds were not immediately secured by the police, leaving
little hope
fresh evidence would be found.
“One would have expected something better
would have been done in terms of
gathering evidence at the very beginning,"
Matinenga said.
"One needs to preserve the scene in order to get as much
evidence as
possible. It appears people rushed in to disturb the scene
without waiting
for relevant specialists to see what was available and to
eventually clear
that scene," he said.
There are many conspiracy
theories surrounding the death of the liberation
war hero.
Some
believe ZANU-PF internal factionalism could have led to the killing of
the
former army general. Others point to his business dealings and note that
his
trusted diamond dealer, Bothwell Hlahla, based in the eastern city of
Mutare, died in a mysterious car crash a few days before the fire at
Mujuru’s
farmhouse.
Sources said it has been determined that Mujuru
intended to drive to
Polokwane, South Africa, on August 17 to resolve a
dispute concerning
diamonds.
This week Vice President Joice Mujuru
spoke out for the first time since his
death, telling a group of athletes
offering their condolences that she
suspected foul play.
Lawyer and
political activist Lovemore Madhuku and Africa Confidential
newsletter
publisher Patrick Smith agreed the official investigation has
been
mishandled.
Madhuku said burying Solomon Mujuru in Heroes Acre, Harare,
so soon after
his death, before a thorough investigation had been completed,
was a
misstep.
Smith told reporter Sandra Nyaira the truth about his
death may never be
uncovered.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011
19:19
Dingilizwe Ntuli/Paidamoyo Muzulu
A PROMINENT foreign
private investigator says the investigation into the
mysterious death of
former army chief and influential Zanu PF politburo
member Solomon Mujuru
may have been bungled from the onset.
Mujuru’s remains were recovered
from the rubble of a blaze which destroyed
his farmhouse in Beatrice last
week and police are still trying to unravel
the cause of the
fire.
According to Gerhard Botes, an investigator at Scisco
Consulting, a
forensic, intelligence and risk management solutions firm
based in Pretoria,
South Africa, too many errors were committed early on in
the investigation
that may prevent the actual causes of death and fire to be
determined.
Scisco Consulting was formed for the “purpose of
supplying an up-market
investigative service,” mainly to the corporate
sector.
Botes said bungled investigations of such high-profile cases
potentially led
to horrible consequences.
He said part of the
problem with the investigation occurred when the police
failed to
immediately secure the scene upon arrival and this continued to
provide
fodder for endless speculation. The scene where Mujuru died was left
open to
anybody to come and view and even interfere with the situation if
they so
wished.
“It doesn’t matter whether or not foul play is suspected but
the scene
should have been cordoned off and an investigating team put in
place to give
a report without any hindrance,” said Botes.
Botes
said as a result of the failure by police to secure the farmhouse,
forensic
investigators were left with little to work with because the scene
could
have been cleaned up and vital pieces of evidence compromised.
He
said any physical barriers like vehicles or tapes that help protect the
scene should have been established by those first to respond, after which
one officer should have been designated as the scene security
officer.
The scene security officer would have been responsible for
preventing access
to the crime scene by curious
onlookers.
Because only in rare situations are crime scene
investigators first to
respond, Botes said their first step upon arrival is
to evaluate the
established secure areas and change them if
necessary.
The forensic investigators are also the only ones who
determine a path to
enter and exit the scene, avoiding any pathway that may
have possibly been
used by trespassers, and thereby preserving the scene
from contamination.
Anyone arriving at a possible crime scene can alter
or change the scene and
its evidence, so access to it should be restricted
and, if possible,
prevented except for essential crime scene personnel
only.
Thereafter, Botes said, searching the area for any biological
evidence
should have begun, with forensic experts thoroughly combing the
secured
scene for any possible leads to help them make a concrete
determination.
“A contamination log or security log should have been
kept to record all
entries and exits from the areas of the secured scene.
The use of a
multi-level security approach could also have successfully
prevented
unwanted entries,” said Botes.
“Crime scene photographs
as well as a video recording of the crime scene
should have been made in
order to use as evidence in court, reconstruction,
or evidence searching.
Only after all necessary photographs had been taken
could the investigation
into the possible cause of the fire then begin,”
Botes said.
He
said there was a systematic approach taken when investigating such cases
and
in most cases experts were called in to give an opinion on the possible
cause of the fire.
“If the fire started as a result of a candle
as has been initially
speculated, candlelight specialists should be called
in to determine how the
fire started and where it started. The same is done
where a fire is caused
by an electrical or gas fault. Experts in those
fields should be called in
to make proper determinations,” he
said.
Botes expressed surprise that Mujuru was positively identified
even before
any tests were carried out on the charred remains found after
the fire had
been put out, saying this was a strange
phenomena.
“It can’t just be on face value but through DNA. As a
former military man,
his DNA record wouldn’t have been hard to find,” Botes
said.
A local police investigator concurred with Botes, saying the police
were
negligent in their duty and completely failed to follow basic crime
scene
procedures.
The detective said instead of performing their
task, the police at the scene
appeared awestruck and overwhelmed by the
presence of political bigwigs and
senior law enforcement
officials.
As a result, the detective said, any forensic results
emanating from this
were highly likely to be contaminated because people who
had nothing to do
with the investigations were allowed free access onto the
scene.
Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka
confirmed to the
Zimbabwe Independent the procedures of securing a crime
scene and conducting
of investigations.
“Securing the crime scene
varies by the nature of the case being
investigated. However, steps are
taken to make sure that the evidence being
sought is not compromised by
generally cordoning off the area,” Mandipaka
said.
He said
investigators do observations and gather evidence that would be
processed at
police laboratories by forensic experts.
“The investigators would, among
others, include pathologists and other
forensic experts who comb the scene
and take evidence to the laboratory,”
said Mandipaka.
He said
police had enough capacity to conduct credible forensic
investigations and
in areas they lacked, they “engaged services from other
government
departments.”
While Zimbabweans await results of forensic
investigations into Mujuru’s
mysterious death, speculation into the cause of
death continues to swirl
across the length and breadth of the country,
putting the investigators
under pressure to come up with credible and
convincing findings.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011 19:14
Nqobile
Bhebhe
THE US government is engaging the Kimberly Process to strike a
deal that
would allow Zimbabwe to export certified gems from its
controversial Marange
diamonds fields.
US Ambassador to Zimbabwe
Charles Ray said the engagements were part of his
country’s efforts to help
steer Zimbabwe’s economic recovery.
Speaking at a public
lecture on the future of US-Zimbabwe relations in
Bulawayo on Monday, Ray
said the US was actively involved in promoting
Zimbabwe’s economic
recovery.
“We are working within the Kimberly Process to reach a
consensus agreement
to allow for Zimbabwe to export certified diamonds from
Marange while
ensuring that workers and local communities’ rights are
respected “said Ray.
He described future relations between the two
countries as “bright” but was
quick to add that the path would not always be
smooth.
Zimbabwe was given permission by the Kimberley Process to
hold its first
monitored sale of a US$1,7 billion stockpile of gems a year
ago. The KP has
said it won’t allow unmonitored sales of Marange diamonds
and asked Zimbabwe
to tighten controls to prevent smuggling in the
area.
Zimbabwe, the world’s seventh largest diamond producer in 2010,
is set to
earn about US$334 million from the export of the gems this year
according to
the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining and Development
Corporation.
Ray said his country would only lift targeted sanctions
when the GPA (Global
Political Agreement) was fully implemented and state
institutions were
delinked from partisan allegiances.
“There
would be no reason for the US to retain our current sanctions policy
in
place when all conditions are met. As Zimbabwe’s political parties
implement
fully the commitments that they themselves have made in the GPA
and as
credible elections are held and honoured, there will be no reason for
the US
to retain the current sanctions policy,” said Ray.
Ray said if
Zimbabwe’s economy was so dependent on the 120 people and a few
dozen
companies under sanctions “then we should be concerned about a lot
more than
just sanctions”.
He said Zanu PF still had a key role to play in
shaping Zimbabwe’s future,
with the two MDC formations having equally
important roles.
Ray emphasised that his government was not anti-Zanu
PF since it recognises
the achievements attained by the former liberation
movement.
“The US fully believes that Zanu PF will and should
continue to play an
important role in Zimbabwe’s future. We do recognise the
many achievements
that Zanu PF has done over the decades for the good of the
Zimbabwean
people” said Ray.
Ray said the US valued Zimbabwe’s
coalition government and also recognised
that there were progressive-minded
people from all the three political
parties.
“Just as we
recognise that there are destabilising extremist elements in
each of
Zimbabwe’s political parties, we also recognise that there are
progressive-minded patriots in all parties across the political divide.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011 19:10
Paidamoyo
Muzulu
A JOINT intervention by Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo
and Labour
and Social Services minister Paurina Mpariwa (pictured below)
saved new
Zupco buses at Bulawayo depot from being attached to settle nearly
US$374
000 in outstanding Nssa pension contributions accumulated over the
last two
years when the transport utility was in financial dire
straits.
The ministers’ intervention was prompted by Nssa’s accelerated
approach in
recovering amounts owed by defaulting firms. The pension fund
recently
hauled a number of ministries to court for failing to remit their
employees’
pension contributions to the authority.
Zupco falls
under Chombo’s ministry while Nssa is under Mpariwa’s
portfolio.
Mpariwa confirmed that she had received a letter from her
counterpart over
Zupco’s outstanding pension payments seeking to reschedule
payment of due
debt.
“There has been some talk between the
ministries but I cannot give more
details now as I’m rushing to a meeting,”
Mpariwa said.
The Zimbabwe Independent can disclose that Zupco
management met Nssa
authorities last week to discuss the repayment plan in
light of the
transport company’s improving revenue collection, after it took
delivery of
46 new buses from China this year.
Zupco acting chief
executive officer Nelson Kangausaru also confirmed that
his company’s debt
payment had been rescheduled following a meeting between
the relevant
authorities.
Kangausaru said Zupco had proposed a monthly instalment
it could afford in
relation to its monthly revenue inflows from its
operations.
“Zupco acknowledged its debt and promised to pay US$32
000 monthly to Nssa,
including current premiums, until the debt is repaid in
full,” Kangausaru
said.
Kangausaru said the Nssa debt piled
because most of the company’s buses had
been grounded and revenues had
dwindled to negligible levels.
“The overall debt was accumulated in the past
two years. We, however, remain
confident that we will pay all our debts in
time with assistance from the
government and the improved revenue from new
buses.”
Zupco chairman Chipo Dyanda told parliament last month that
the company’s
overall debt presently stood at US$6,4 million.
“We
have debts of US$6,4 million owed to institutions such as Nssa, Zimra
and
local authorities, but we are not insolvent,” said Dyanda.
Zupco is
rebuilding its fleet through new bus purchases from China. It now
has 46 new
buses and expects another batch of 40 before the end of this
year. In total,
the company hopes to have 300 buses in its fleet by the end
of
2013.
At its peak the company owned 400 buses and collected
US$1,4million a month
from its local and regional routes. The peak period
was realised in 2009
soon after the dollarisation of the economy.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011
19:09
Reginald Sherekete
THE increase in exhibitors at this year’s
Harare Agricultural Show (HAS) is
a reflection of the improving
macro-economic environment and improved
productivity in the key sectors of
the economy, according to Zimbabwe
Agricultural Society Public Relations
Manager Sibonginkosi Muteyiwa
A total of 1 000 exhibitors are participating
at this year’s show, being
held under the theme ‘Celebration of Agricultural
growth going green,’ from
700 who took part last year. In 2009 there were
540 Exhibitors.
“We have seen an improvement in terms of the number
of exhibitors. This is
attributable to the improved macro-economic climate
and the increased
productivity across industry,” she said. The 2011 show
comes on the back of
improving capacity utilisation in the country’s
agricultural and industrial
sector, she added.
There has been an
increase in the number local commercial farmers
exhibiting, at 350 from 266
last year. In 2009 there were 25 farmers. There
are 118 small to medium
enterprises exhibiting and 12 are foreign exhibitors
from Iran, South Africa
and Kenya.
This year agriculture and livestock stamped their presence
at their annual
show as the largest exhibitors, as compared to other years
whereupon the
sector had plunged into the doldrums.
The livestock
herd also improved by 73% to 320 head of cattle as compared to
185 last
year. The show had the worst turnout of 25 heads in 2009.
Muteyiwa said a
total of 118 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) where
exhibiting at the
show.
Industry and commerce recorded 750 exhibitors, with
manufacturing bouncing
back after many years of slumber as it was affected
by economic downturn.
The agric-produce section of the show has also seen an
increase in the
numbers of exhibitors.
The annual HAS is a
platform for local companies to showcase their products
and services as well
as enter into strategic partnerships with potential
investors.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011 19:02
Chris
Muronzi
MINES minister Obert Mpofu has tightened his grip on Hwange
Colliery Ltd
after he appointed his lawyer to chair the board of the coal
miner.
Mpofu, who has a knack for appointing people close to him to key
positions
in state entities that fall under his ministry, appointed Farai
Mutamangira
to the board of the colliery company. Mutamangira has since
been appointed
chairman after a disputed Annual General Meeting
(AGM).
Hwange Colliery Ltd former chairman Tendai Savanhu and
other board members
have since dismissed the AGM and the appointments as a
nullity.
When reached for comment Mutamangira said: “I have a mandate
from the
Attorney General to represent the Ministry of Mines and the
Minister of
Mines on the diamonds issues, which mandate I successfully
executed in
relation to the overturning of the adverse judgement which had
been granted
against the Government of Zimbabwe in favour of African
Consolidated
Resources Limited,” said Mutamangira.
According to
an affidavit deposed with the High Court last year by former
ZMDC boss
Dominic Mubayiwa, Mutamangira was paid nearly US$1 million for a
case
another legal firm handled despite concerns of “apparent conflict” of
interest.
He refused to comment on whether he had been paid US$1
million last year.
“I cannot comment on what Dominic Mubaiwa says
regarding my fees paid a year
ago because Dominic Mubaiwa is not my client,”
said Mutamangira. “While I am
not conflicted in any respect, the subject of
conflict of interest you raise
is deep and complex and invariably it is
imagined than real, such
allegations should not be carelessly made. Coal
and diamonds are clearly
different and unrelated.”
Mubayiwa
claimed Mutamangira and his law firm were paid US$950 000 for a
case
involving African Consolidated Resources (ACR) which was handled by
Sawyer& Mkushi.
Sawyer & Mkushi represented ZMDC in its
battle to wrest a diamond claim ACR
claims right to.
ACR, the
London Stock Exchange listed mining junior, was kicked out of
Chiadzwa
diamond fields in 2006, but is still legally fighting to reclaim
its rights
to the concession.
Mubayiwa deposed the affidavit challenging his
dismissal from employment in
October last year.
He also claimed in the
affidavit that ZMDC chairman, Godwills Masimirembwa,
tried to force him to
change the company’s lawyers to Mutamangira &
Associates.
Masimirembwa was also chairman of the National
Incomes and Pricing
Commission, a institution that gave business sleepless
nights in 2007 when
Mpofu was Industry minister.
Norman
Chibhanguza, Jemmister Chininga, Ian Haruperi, Nkosilathi Jiyane,
Siphiwe
Mapfuwa, Johnson Mawere, Lucas Nkomo, Valentine Vera and Mutamangira
are the
new board members after Mpofu and British tycoon Nicholas van
Hoogstraten
sacked the whole board except MD Fred Moyo, an executive
director.
Mapfuwa, Mawere, Mutamangamira, Nkomo and Vera
represent government’s
interests on the board. Vera is also a director in
Mpofu’s ministry. Other
directors represent van Hoogstraten’s
interests.
High Court judge Justice Susan Mavangira early this year
barred Mutamangira
and his legal firm —Mutamangira & Associates — from
representing ZMDC and
Marange Resources after the late George Chikumbirike
claimed the lawyer was
involved in investigations that resulted in the
prosecution of Core Mining
shareholders.
This is not the first
time Mpofu has appointed people close to him to the
boards of parastatals
that fall under his ministry.
Early last year, he appointed to the board of
Condurango Resources, a joint
venture diamond mining operation, his
sister-in-law and his personal
assistant.
Condurango Resources is
a company trading as Mbada Diamonds. The company is
a joint venture between
the Zimbabwe Minerals Development Corporation and
New Reclamation Group. The
Zimbabwe Independent last year exclusively
revealed that Mpofu appointed his
personal assistant, Dingiswayo Ndlovu, and
his brother’s wife, Sitshengisiwe
Moyo, to the board of ZMDC.
It was unclear why Mpofu appointed Ndlovu
and Moyo to the board and whose
interests the two
represented.
Mpofu, who was appointed Mines minister at the formation
of the inclusive
government, has been tightening his grip on parastatals
that fall under his
ministry.
When reached for comment Mpofu said
he was in a meeting.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011
18:57
Paul Nyakazeya
SMALL banks are losing market share in
deposits to the top five banks, but
are advancing more loans as a percentage
of their deposits, as evidenced by
their high loan-to-deposit ratios, a
survey by the Reserve Bank has shown.
According to the survey, of the top
five banks, CBZ, Standard Chartered,
Stanbic, Barclays and ABC are
dominating smaller banks in terms of deposits
and
capitalisation.
According to the Reserve Bank, the 22 smaller
banks account for 40% of the
share of deposits as at June 30 2011, from 44%
last year, while the large
banks hold 59%, from 56%.
Of the 59%,
CBZ accounts for 22%, Stanbic and ABC 11%, Standard Chartered 8%
while
Barclays bank handled 6%.
Of the loans advanced as at June 30 this
year, smaller banks accounted for
52%, from 49% last year as big banks’
generosity declined to 47%, from 51%
during the same period last
year.
The country’s big five banks, CBZ, Barclays, Standard Chartered
and Stanbic
control an estimated US$2 billion of deposits. This leaves the
22 small
banks scrambling for about US$1,2 billion
deposits.
Punitive interest rates quoted by banks largely on
short-term loans have
been blamed on small banks and the concentration of
bank deposits in the
four leading banks.
Of the big banks, CBZ
accounted for 25% of the advances, from 26%, while
Standard Chartered
declined to 6% from 8%. Stanbic Bank’s advances also
declined to 5% from 8%.
Loans advanced by Barclays Banks were stagnant at 2%
during the periods
under review. ABC rose to 10% from 7%.
“The high interest rate regime
in the financial sector stemmed from an
attempt by small banks to compensate
for small deposit volumes,” said an
economist with a Merchant bank. However,
to fund their hot balance sheets,
some of the banks have been relying on hot
money from the market to
continuously square their positions, since the
RBZ’s lender of last resort
function is still not yet
resuscitated.
This has seen very thin net interest margins prevailing
among the banks,
resulting in them being unable to break even from core
business of lending
via the net interest income component. To compensate for
these and their
other inefficiencies, the banks have resorted to charging
unjustifiably high
ledger and commission fees from the banking
public.
Analysts said the banking sector liquidity was a function of
the country’s
export performance, which is presently constrained by lack of
long-term
credit, low capacity utilisation, high cost of funding and the
power crisis,
among others.
“It is feared high interest rates,
which are a result of a liquidity crisis
limiting the pool for deposit
mobilisation, may scupper economic recovery as
firms are failing to borrow
to finance productive activities.
“The structure of Zimbabwe’s
financial sector is amazing. We are a US$7
billion economy, which is now
sitting on nearly US$4 billion bank deposits,”
the analyst
said.
Zambia is a US$12 billion economy, with total deposits of
US$4.5 billion,
while Botswana, a US$12 billion economy, is sitting on US$5
billion bank
deposits. Botswana has benefited much from the export of its
diamonds.
Economist Brains Muchemwa said: “From a regional
comparison, when looking at
Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique and Botswana, it’s
quite clear that the
deposits that the Zimbabwean economy has relative to
GDP are high, and
indeed the loan to deposit ratio is at acceptable levels
around 81%.
However, this is not translating to low cost of credit since
there is huge
demand for credit from the economy, estimated above US$15
billion.
This says a lot about the potential growth that Zimbabwe has
should
appropriate funding models become available for the private and
public
sectors.”
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011
18:53
Brian Chitemba
DEATH and sickness are significantly
weakening the deeply divided Zanu PF
party, as ageing senior officials
succumb to mysterious ailments, while
others spend vast amounts of time
seeking specialised medical attention,
than attending to government
business.
Death has robbed the party of several key members, particularly
after the
turn of the millennium.
President Robert Mugabe
has made more than five trips to Singapore and
Malaysia this year alone to
seek treatment for prostate cancer and eye
problems.
His deputy,
John Nkomo, has also made several trips to seek treatment for
cancer in
neighbouring South Africa, while Lands and Rural Resettlement
minister
Hebert Murerwa has been admitted in a South African hospital for
treatment
of cancer of the colon.
It seems cancer and deaths have become Zanu
PF’s most fierce opposition.
Besides the inexplicable deaths such as that of
General Solomon Mujuru, most
high-ranking party officials are battling with
the dangerous disease.
Cancer is a disease characterised by
out-of-control cell growth. There are
more than 100 different types of
cancer and each is classified by the type
of cell that is initially
affected.
It harms the body when damaged cells divide uncontrollably
to form lumps or
masses of tissue called tumours.
These tumours
grow and interfere with the digestive, nervous and blood
circulatory systems
and can release hormones that alter organ and body
function. Cancer
treatment depends on the type, the stage, age of the
person, their health
status and additional personal characteristics.
Treatment usually
comprises surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy,
hormone therapy
or gene therapy.
Higher Education minister Stan Mudenge has also been
in and out of hospital
several times and has rarely made public appearances.
Matabeleland South
governor Angeline Masuku has also been battling declining
health and spent
several weeks not reporting for duty earlier this
year.
Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander, General Constantine
Chiwenga, flew to
China earlier this year for medical
treatment.
Zanu PF has lost several key members to death. This year
alone, the party
lost General Mujuru, Harare governor and Zanu PF secretary
for finance David
Karimanzira and CIO deputy director-general Menard
Livingstone Muzariri.
Others who died in the post 2000 era include
Mugabe’s former deputy and
close confidant Simon Muzenda in 2003 and another
of his former deputies
Joseph Msika in 2009.
Other party
stalwarts who died after 2000 are former Defence minister Moven
Mahachi,
former political commissars Border Gezi and Elliot Manyika and
Brigadier-General Paul Armstrong Gunda.
But the impact of these
deaths and illnesses has been felt in Matabeleland,
where power battles
between Nkomo and Mines minister Obert Mpofu have been
raging since the
former was elevated to the party’s presidium.
Zanu PF insiders said
Mpofu was taking advantage of Nkomo’s illness to step
up his campaign to
land the party’s number two position.
In 2009, Nkomo and Mpofu were locked in
a nasty battle to replace Msika.
Sources told the Zimbabwe
Independent this week that most Zanu PF members in
Matabeleland were now
rallying behind Mpofu because they lacked confidence
in the ageing and
sickly Nkomo.
“Mpofu now has an upper hand in Matabeleland over Nkomo
because of the VP’s
poor health,” said a senior Zanu PF official. “The Mines
minister spends
time mobilising support for his camp whereas those behind
Nkomo are either
joining the Mpofu faction or wondering about their
future.”
Mpofu’s growing financial muscle is also helping him bolster
his campaign
since most regional Zanu PF members are rushing to him for
assistance.
He has been making several donations in and around Bulawayo in a
move that
has become his signature in the campaign.
Mpofu bailed
out the Zanu PF Bulawayo province to settle city council bills
when the
local authority had moved to evict the liberation movement from the
council
property it’s renting.
Political analyst Nyamutatanga Makombe said
Mpofu had an advantage over
Nkomo due to the VP’s health
problems.
“You can’t strategise from a hospital bed, that’s why even
Nkomo’s foot
soldiers are crossing the floor,” said Makombe. “When a leader
of a faction
is constantly ill, the followers are likely to look for a new
head,” he
said.
Makombe said Zanu PF’s failure to renew
leadership would sink the party into
political oblivion in the near future
since most of its kingpins are old and
ailing. He said during the 1980s and
early 1990s, a year would pass without
any burial at the national heroes
acre but the party was now making several
trips to the National Heroes Acre
each year to bury one of its stalwarts.
“Most of the Zanu PF
officials are old and they fail to grasp issues related
to globalisation and
rapid eco-political changes because it’s no longer the
imperialism era. It’s
natural progression and no one can deny that,” said
Makombe.
He
said Zanu PF was engaging in a nasty succession battle because most of
the
high-ranking officials never planned for smooth exits.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011
18:35
Wongai Zhangazha
THE tragic death of General Solomon Mujuru
did not only leave most
Zimbabweans shocked, but it also clearly exposed the
extent to which
essential services such as the fire brigade have
deteriorated.
Mujuru died at his Beatrice farmhouse last week in a mysterious
blaze which
burnt his body beyond recognition.
While speculation
continues over the cause of his death, the response and
actions of the fire
brigade proved that the country needs a complete
overhaul of its essential
services sector.
The response to disaster management in Zimbabwe is
virtually non-existent
because rural, district and urban municipalities are
all ill-equipped to
deal with any disaster of any magnitude. Immediate
government intervention
is required to arrest this
dereliction.
Although the fire outbreak at Mujuru’s farm might have
occurred outside the
area covered by the Harare Fire Brigade, its reaction
gave all and sundry a
glimpse into the dire straits in which essential
services have been
abandoned in Zimbabwe.
If the capital city’s
emergency services are in such a shambolic state,
what of other
municipalities?
Earlier this month, safari hunter Graham Hingeston
lost property worth more
US$500 000 after fire engulfed his plush house in
Umwinsidale, Harare.
Although the fire had already caused much damage
by the time the fire
brigade arrived, the firemen were, however, accused of
arriving with rundown
equipment. As a result, they failed to extinguish the
blaze because they
didn’t have enough water.
Firemen who spoke to
the Zimbabwe Independent complained that their work was
compromised by the
lack of suitable equipment and this seriously tarnished
the reputation of
the fire brigade.
Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda said all rural,
district and urban councils
had “woefully under-capitalised and ill-equipped
fire brigades.”
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) director Mfundo
Mlilo said the
problem stemmed from the formulation of the council budget,
which he
described as sidelining priority issues.
Mlilo said: “It
stems from the way the budget itself would have been
formulated. Right now
the council is holding 2012 budget consultation
meetings with residents, but
the approach to these meetings does not allow
residents to push for urgent
priorities to be considered in the budget.
“We have always complained
that the budget does not put residents’
priorities, in particular
infrastructure development and upgrading of social
services. Council goes
and consults on rates but fails to prioritise key
issues. All these issues
of poor service delivery or rundown equipment stem
from the poor budget
formulation process,” said Mlilo.
He said the CHRA had written a
letter to the city council finance committee
complaining that the
consultation meetings of the 2012 budget should not
only look at rates, but
have an intense consultation with residents of
important issues they wanted
resolved.
“Residents want water infrastructure development, chemicals
to purify water,
roads to be fixed, and regular refuse collection. Imagine
there are about
1900 dumpsites in areas like Mbare, Highfiled, Kuwadzana and
Mabvuku which
have not been attended to since 2009. We are already
approaching the rainy
season and the question is; does the council want to
wait for another
cholera outbreak to take action?” Mlilo
questioned.
According to the African Development Bank, Zimbabwe
requires US$14, 2
billion to fund the rehabilitation of its ailing
infrastructure, which has
suffered more than a decade of
neglect.
In a report titled Infrastructure and Growth in Zimbabwe –
An Action Plan
for Sustained Strong Economic Growth, the bank said the
“successful
implementation of the proposed programme will require a
partnership that
involves national government, state enterprises and local
governments with
responsibilities for infrastructure services, the donor
community and
private-sector investors.”
The report further said
the proportion of the country’s roads, totaling
almost 90 000km in the fair
to good condition category, declined from 73% in
1995 to about 60% during
much of the past decade.
An additional 12 800km of the road network
was reclassified as poor in
condition and requires complete rehabilitation
at a cost of about US$1,1
billion.
Rehabilitation or building of new
water supply infrastructure would require
expenditure of US$3,7 billion,
while US$4,3 billion would be required for
power
infrastructure.
Former Harare mayor Elias Mudzuri said a lot needed
to be done to equip
council structures in the country.
“You
should never allow the fire brigade to operate in a non-manageable
state.
There is need to ensure that the fire brigade officers are well
trained and
work with required equipment. It’s a rather late comment by the
mayor to say
that the fire brigade is undercapitalised and ill-equipped.
This is
something the mayor should have been working on. These problems
should be
rectified. Just because an important man has died it has now
become an eye
opener, but several people have been inconvenienced by the
fire brigade’s
lack of capacity,” Mudzuri said.
He maintains that there should be
enough fire tenders, good capacity bowsers
and fire hoses that can be
connected anywhere in the city in the event of a
fire. Unfortunately the
scenario presently obtaining is that there is no
water in most parts of the
city and the country at large.
He said one of the biggest challenges
was the lack of experienced and
dedicated technical
staff.
However, governance training specialist David Takawira said
the challenges
facing local authorities should be blamed on the Local
Government ministry.
“The solution to the current myriad challenges
within rural and urban
governance systems in Zimbabwe lies in the
constitution and acts of
parliament that were enacted to guide the work on
councils,” said Takawira.
“The blame game will not stop now unless
swift measures towards reform and
decentralisation are made,” he said.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011 17:37
Paul
Nyakazeya
ECONOMIC analysts see a rise in inflation in the short term,
owing to the
appreciation of the rand against the US unit, saying this was
squeezing
margins and acting as an impetus for upward price reviews.
The
cost build up pressure behind the recent prices increase has also been
triggered by an increase in borrowing rates that have increased on average
from 15% per annum to around 25%.
Most of Zimbabwe’s imports come
from South Africa, while pricing is in US
dollars.
The past two
months have seen the US dollar losing strength against the
rand, resulting
in month on month inflation moving upwards marginally.
Finance
Minister Tendai Biti says Zimbabwe, being a net importer
particularly from
South Africa, is bound to be affected by exchange rate
volatility between
the US dollar and the South African Rand.
“The rand has been
appreciating since January, obviously putting pressure on
domestic prices,
as more dollars will be needed to import similar quantities
of goods from
South Africa,” he said, presenting the mid-term review last
month.
University of Zimbabwe Professor of Economics Tony Hawkins
said there seems
to be general consensus that Zimbabwe should stick with the
US dollar
(multi-currency) regime.
“The snag is that this will
not be viable if we inflate at 6% or more while
US inflation is less than
1%,” he said.
Economic analysts have predicted that inflation this
year would be driven by
rising fuel prices (in US dollars), rising food
prices (in US dollars), and
wage increases.
Addressing
journalists recently, Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
President Joseph
Kanyekanye said imported products mainly from South Africa
were resulting in
an increase in inflation as retailers wanted to maintain
previous margins
that were in place before the duty that was imposed by
Biti.
“Some local manufacturers are following suit but there are
no cost reviews
on their inputs. We are not saying business should not make
profit but the
days of making unrealistic and unjustified profits are long
gone,” he said.
He said there was no justification for local goods to
be more expensive than
imported ones.
According to Hawkins, the
only solution to deflate the economy is by
squeezing costs, which means
simultaneously lowering wages and fewer jobs.
Hawkins added that the US
dollar has not been a stable currency and has
shown fluctuating tendencies
over the years.
“A weaker dollar is welcome for us because it
increases export
competitiveness, boosts commodity prices and makes import
competition more
expensive. The downside is that it fuels inflation,” said
Prof Hawkins.
Economist Brains Muchemwa said given the prevailing
modus operandi
(dollarisation of the economy), government would be “forced
to operate
within budgetary allocations because of lack of control over
money supply.”
Zimbabwe’s annual inflation for the month of July as
measured by the all
items Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0,4% points to
3,3%.
This is the second increase in as many months after the annual
inflation
rate rose in June by 0,4 percentage points to
2,9%.
Latest statistics from the Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency
show that
the year-on-year inflation rate for the month of July as measured
by the
all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 3,3%, gaining 0,4%
points on
the June rate of 2,9%.
The latest rise in both the
annual and monthly inflation rate was largely
anticipated by most observers
in view of the decision by the government to
reintroduce import duty on some
basic commodities.
This is also in view of the fact that in Zimbabwe,
historical inflation
trends show that rising prices for food, non-alcoholic
beverages, health,
education and services by public utilities are the major
drivers of
inflation.
Corporate lawyer and analyst Alex Magaisa
said history has shown that
government has generally failed to live within
its means and Biti’s
Herculean task is to inculcate discipline in line
ministries.
“The trouble is there is so much that needs to be done
and all this requires
resources but there is little by way of resources to
do it,” Magaisa said.
“At the moment as a country we are living like
hunter-gatherers, living from
hand to mouth and whilst this might permit
survival, it does not provide the
facility for development at
all.”
Magaisa said too much of the government revenue was being
expended on
“survival needs” as opposed to “growth needs” for example, 60%
of government’s
budget has been spent on the allowances for civil
servants.
Economist Eric Bloch said not only was economic recovery
critically
dependent upon government living within its means, but also
government had
no alternative saying “government neither has any borrowing
powers in the
current environment” nor “the ability to
print”.
The latest figures mean prices as measured by the all items
CPI increased by
an average of 3,3 percentage points between July last year
and July this
year. The year-on-year food and non-alcoholic beverages
inflation prone to
transitory shocks stood at 3,56% whilst non-food
inflation stood at 3,13%.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011 17:39
Paul
Nyakazeya
PRICES of basic commodities have spiralled by an average of 9%
since June,
owing to the firming of the South African rand against the US
dollar while a
surge of utility bills has also not helped contain production
costs.
According to a survey by businessdigest, prices of cooking oil, mazoe
orange, blue bar washing soap, surf, stock magarine and other basics rose
significantly between June and August.
The price of two litres of
cooking oil rose from US$3,30 to US$4,20 in the
period under review, blue
bar washing soap rose from US$1,40 to US$1,80
during the same period while a
100 watts light bulb rose to US$1,70 from
US$1,45 in June. Surf (500g)
increased to US$1,90 from US$1,80 while stock
margarine rose from US$2,00 to
US$2,15.
Consumer Council of Zimbabwe executive director Roselyn
Siyachitema said
most of the increases were a result of speculation and
“were not justified”.
She said the decision by the government to levy
duty on imported basic
commodities is likely to result in price increases in
the coming months.
CCZ said the cost of living for a low-income urban
earner monthly basket for
a family of six increased from US$502,04 last
month to US$504,16 in July.
“CCZ expects that in the coming month
there will be an increase in the
prices of basic commodities, considering
that duty-free was removed on basic
imported goods,” Siyachitema
said.
Presenting the mid-year fiscal policy review statement Biti
restored import
duty on some foodstuffs to protect local industry saying the
development had
been necessitated by improved supply of basic goods and also
the need to
protect local producers.
The consumer watchdog is,
however, accused of not doing enough to protect
the consumers since
dollarisation.
A local economist Joseph Mverecha said the increase in
prices was expected
to persist during the course of the year in reaction to
the re-instatement
of import duty by the government.
“We can
expect that prices will rise further. The effect of import duty will
be
distributed to different sectors at different stages this year,” he
said.
Mverecha, however, said inflation was likely to remain between
4,5% and 5%
target by year end.
He said the increase in prices
could not be linked to the South African rand
as in the past month it had
been strengthening while the United States
dollar and euro were in
crisis.
Economic analyst Farayi Dyirakumunda believes the recent
increase in retail
prices was largely a result of exchange rate
dynamics.
He said: “The recent appreciation of the South African rand
to levels of
around R6,78:1US$ in recent months from previous levels of
around R7:1US$
would translate to an increase of US dollar prices of goods
and services
imported in rand from South Africa.”
He said most of
the consumer groceries being imported from South Africa had
therefore seen
an increase in retail prices due to such exchange rate
movements.
“Price fluctuations from exchange rate volatility are
unavoidable for an
importer in our position and stability will eventually be
achieved when
local production improves,” Dyirakumunda said.
The
priority for supermarkets is to get the appropriate stock on and off
their
shelves as fast as possible and increasing prices is not part of the
game.
The rise of goods and services is being attributed to the firming
of the
rand, taxes, response to speculation and sheer
profiteering.
Economist David Mupamhadzi said: “Reducing imports
could make a difference
since transport costs are high. With parity pricing
they (local producers)
can compete on quality.”
He said given
that capacity utilisation in the country is still below 50%,
it follows that
Zimbabwe will continue to rely on imports mainly from South
Africa, and the
movement of the rand would continue to influence prices in
Zimbabwe.
Mupamhadzi also said the high cost of utilities in the
country is also
pushing prices of basic goods and services.
“The
continued increase in the price of Water, Rates, and Electricity is
increasing the cost of production to companies, and hence the increases in
the price of basic goods and services. Industries in Zimbabwe are facing a
number of structural rigidities which pushes up the cost of production per
unit,” he said.
Economist John Robertson said some of the more
recent price rises were not
justified adding that some supermarkets and
manufactures were profiteering
as some figures show that food prices have
gone up far faster than can be
explained.
“Profiteering happens,
there are cases where people make inappropriate
margins along distribution
system,” he said.
Economist Brains Muchemwa, however, said the retail
trade in Zimbabwe was
now competitive to such an extent that one could price
themselves out of the
market.
“This business is price sensitive
and shop owners cannot independently set
prices. It must have something to
do with cost build up otherwise it’s not
justified,” Muchemwa
said.
In one of his weekly columns, Economist Eric Bloch said retail
outlets
needed to explain to consumers why prices of goods had gone up when
major
inflation drivers had been stable for a long
time.
Consumers should also expected prices increases in December
motivated by a
seasonal growth in demand that usually correct it’s self
after the festive
season. Market forces will drive prices to equilibrium.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011 17:41
Paul
Nyakazeya
THE Finance ministry and the Youth Development, Indigenisation
and
Empowerment ministry are negotiating for a favourable threshold for
banks as
the banking sector’s stability is critical for economy
recovery.
Addressing journalists this week, Finance minister Tendai Biti
said he had
met with senior management of Barclays, Stanbic and Standard
Chartered Bank
on how best they could comply with the indigenisation laws
without
negatively affecting their performance.
“I met with the
management of the banks on Monday. We are still negotiating
on a threshold.
It should be understood that banks are a sensitive area
different from other
sectors. Banks are conveyors of capital,” he said.
He however could
not disclose the threshold the banking sector was
proposing.
Foreign-owned companies are required by law to
transfer control of at least
51% of their shareholding to locals as part of
measures aimed at empowering
the historically disadvantaged black
majority.
“Banks act as intermediaries when they mobilize savings
from surplus units
(savers) to shortage units (borrowers) in order to
finance productive
activities and should be handled with care,” Biti
said.
Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment minister
Saviour
Kasukuwere last Friday said he had given foreign-owned banks and
companies a
14-day indigenisation ultimatum to comply with the law or risk
losing their
operating licenses.
The Reserve Bank governor Gideon
Gono responded saying Kasukuwere’s 14-day
ultimatum could cause irreparable
harm to the recovering economy.
“Tendencies towards firing harmful
verbal economic-gunpowder must be
minimised by all stakeholders in the
interest of the economy and the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe Board forewarns
people playing with economic gunpowder to
leave the game to those
well-trained in its use and safe custody, lest the
unintended will happen,
to everyone’s future regret,” Gono said in a
statement.
Kasukuwere responded advising Gono to keep his counsel
to himself, insisting
the 14-day indigenisation ultimatum was still place as
divisions in
government continue over the controversial
policy.
“We cannot run a nation based on profane language. Let’s
respect the laws of
the land and not personalise issues,” Kasukuwere was
quoted saying this
week.
“Individual views should remain so, but the law
of the land should remain
supreme.”
Gono insisted he was the sole
legal authority on the country’s banking
sector adding: “The RBZ has neither
given notice to nor does it have any
immediate or foreseeable intention(s)
to withdraw operating licences from
any registered financial institution
under its supervision.”
Kasukuwere told Gono to stick to his role of
“supervising” the country’s
financial sector and vowed to continue with the
implementation of the
indigenisation programme.
“The Act will be
implemented without fear or favour,” Kasukuwere said.
Biti also said
the high July inflation was mainly on account of food price
increases and to
some extent, some non-food items, particularly detergents
and hotel
accommodation and catering services, whose inflation rates were at
3,56% and
3,13% respectively.
Inflation, which was contained below 3% during
the second quarter of 2011
reached 3,3% by July 2011, against 2,9% recorded
in the months of May and
June 2011.
Similarly, month-on-month
inflation for July was 0,3% implying an increase
by 0,1% from the June
levels of 0,2%.
“Products In the food basket, which recorded price
increase from the
previous month were mealie-meal by 22c, white sugar 5c,
salt 3c, onions 20c
and beef 10c,” he said.
“These are worrisome
developments, which if not addressed will reverse the
gains made on overall
macroeconomic stabilisation. On the other hand, the
cost of transport,
education, rentals and utilities remained constant,” Biti
said.
Going forward, Biti said government will continue to
closely monitor overall
price developments also focusing on the impact of
duty reinstatement on the
selected imported basic commodities affected in
the 2011 mid-year fiscal
policy review statement of July 26
2011.
These include rice, maize, maize meal, flour, cooking oil and
salt. He said
government would not hesitate to take appropriate action in
protection of
the general consumers where such positive dispensations to
local producers
are abused.
“I am therefore urging local
producers to reciprocate government support by
refraining from unethical,
speculative and rent-seeking activities, but
rather take advantage of such
dispensations to improve productivity,” said
Biti.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011 17:44
Happiness
Zengeni
FINANCE minister Tendai Biti has said that the government
continues to be
constrained in terms of expenditure and will surpass the
US$700 million
deficit which had been forecasted in the 2011 national
budget.
Biti said the deficit would be more as government had not provided
for the
constitution programme.
He said already the government was
reeling, as it had a shortfall of US$86
million from a revenue of US$228
million, made up of US$205 million Zimra
collections and US$23 million
diamond revenue against expenses of US$315
million.
He said diamond
revenue had only started coming through in July at US$27
million and would
grow to US$160 million by December.
As a result of the shortfall, Biti said,
the ministry has been unable to
finance some of its projects.
Biti said
there was need to set up a budget allocation committee and
exercise massive
fiscal retrenchment, particularly on travel.
“Government is not leaving
within its means as it’s struggling around US$200
million and can’t meet set
targets,” he said.
When asked on the expenses, particularly on the luxury
cars, Biti said there
had not been a disbursement for 2011, but the last one
had been in 2010 for
US$1,5 million.
He, however remained optimistic on
the economy’s growth rate of 9,3% but
said certain factors might limit it,
which include politics, slow
implementation of reforms and the sovereign
debt of US$7,1 billion.
On the issue of the inflation spike on certain goods,
Biti said the ministry
was considering revisiting the tariff regime over the
irresponsible attitude
of businesses.
“We will not hesitate to red card
those who score own goals,” he said,
adding however that he would not take
the route of arresting business but
would rather discourage them from that
behaviour.
Biti also said that within the next few weeks, he would release
the
remainder of the US$1,6 billion credit lines into the market and tell
institutions where it would be available.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011
18:33
WE were intrigued by the brickbats exchanged between Reserve Bank
governor
Gideon Gono and Indigenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere.
Kasukuwere has
given two banks –– Standard Chartered Bank and Barclays Bank
–– as well as
several mining firms an ultimatum to comply with
indigenisation laws or lose
their licences.
Gono, who seems to have gone
through a “Damascus” experience after his
quasi-fiscal activities backfired
and rendered the nation currencyless, has
been dishing out advice to a
belligerent Kasukuwere. Gono issued a statement
on the 14-day ultimatum
issued to Barclays and Standard Chartered:
“Tendencies towards firing harmful
verbal economic-gunpowder must be
minimised by all stakeholders in the
interest of the economy and the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe board forewarns
people playing with economic gunpowder to
leave the game to those
well-trained in its use and safe custody, lest the
unintended will happen,
to everyone’s future regret.”
Gono goes on to warn that “dishing out threats
to sensitive institutions
that are custodians of people’s hard earned
savings” smacks of “irrational
exuberance during these times of necessary
soberness”.
“There are ways of achieving the same objectives as intended by
the law
through non-confrontational means,” says Gono.
Kasukuwere
responded by saying: “We cannot run a nation based on profane
language.
Let’s respect the laws of the land and not personalise issues. All
we are
asking is for these companies to comply with the law. The banks were
given
two weeks to show cause why the minister should not direct that their
licences be revoked. Individual views should remain so, but the law of the
land should remain supreme.”
Where is the profanity minister Kasukuwere?
Surely a warning on the
consequences of your trigger-happy approach is in
order and Gono is well
placed to comment on this.
“The Act will be
implemented without fear or favour,” adds Kasukuwere.
“We will not be
deterred from implementing the laws of the land and those
foreign banks
whose parentage in any case continues to attack and affect our
people with
illegal sanctions cannot be defended by any logical Zimbabwean.
These
companies must basically follow the law.”
We are confused here! Is this drive
about companies following the law or
about getting back at the West for the
“illegal” sanctions?
The fate of the hapless depositors and employees is left
in the balance in
the pursuit of “punishing” the West.
The haphazardness
of Kasukuwere’s approach is all too telling in the fact
that the Reserve
Bank –– the only authority empowered to issue or take away
banking licences
––seems in the dark on the ministry’s threats.
So much for following the
law.
In his statement Gono adds that: “Experts in the field of banking and
finance and who have had years of experience in it, including serious
qualifications in relevant subjects pertaining to the sector, deserve to be
listened to when they give sound advice. This is necessary in order to avoid
fly-by-night, reckless and excitable flexing of muscles and decisions that
overlook certain fundamentals that could irreparably harm the nerve-centre
of our recovering economy.”
We couldn’t agree more
Governor.
Embattled Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika got a rude
awakening, the
Nyasa Times reports, when the head of the Catholic church in
Malawi, Bishop
Joseph Mukasa Zuza said in his presence that he should stop
gagging civil
society, the media and the faith community, saying they had a
role to play
in safeguarding the hard-won democracy and the rule of
law.
Delivering a sermon at a National Day of Prayer meeting in Blantyre,
which
was also attended by the First Lady Calista Mutharika, Zuza said that
the
current social, political and economic problems were “of our own making
depending on our respective roles”.
The bishop added that more often than
not, stakeholders tend to point
fingers at each other for the worsening
problems the country is facing, but
said more worrying was that those with
“more authority” were threatening
others.
The bishop also said that any
person who thinks they are always perfect is
wrong, saying that Malawians
merely have the responsibility to find lasting
solutions to the “current”
storm. He said that those who believe they are
more perfect than others are
even worse.
If only our clergy had the guts to tell our leaders the truth
like this.
Senior priests in the Anglican Church faction led by
excommunicated
Archbishop Nolbert Kunonga instead declare their church’s
unwavering
allegiance to Zanu PF and say their church prayed only for
President Mugabe
and no other leader.
Not too long ago Family of God
church leader Andrew Wutawunashe described
the sanctions slapped on Zimbabwe
by the West as “an honour” to the nation
as they demonstrate how important
the southern African country is on the
global political
platform.
Meanwhile Mutharika has blasted Malawians in the diaspora,
describing them
as desperate crooks and thieves. He was irked that Malawi
Diaspora Forum UK
chapter met officials of Britain’s Foreign Office in
London in the aftermath
of July 20 demonstrations that left around 19 people
dead, and received
assurances from London that it will put more pressure on
Mutharika’s
administration to consolidate the economic and political gains
made in
recent years.
The Diaspora Forum also successfully campaigned
against the awarding to
Mutharika of the Food Prize by the United States
based Hunger Project.
It is not the first time, reports the Nyasa Times, that
Mutharika has
blasted Malawians in the diaspora saying they have tarnished
the image of
his government and the country by reporting “lies” to the
United Nations,
IMF, human rights groups and others.
It seems that
Mutharika is now treading on a path of dictatorship which
several African
leaders before him have trod. He recently went on television
to warn
anti-government protesters that: “Even if you hide in holes, I’ll
smoke you
out!”
He would do well to pay attention to what is happening in Egypt –– the
ongoing trial of former President Hosni Mubarak –– as well as the demise of
Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
In Zambia’s elections Patrotic Front (PF)
leader Michael Sata has been
receiving a lot of flak for his “failure to
articulate national issues
properly”.
In an article entitled “Sata
disappoints audience,” the Times of Zambia
reports that the audience
condemned Sata for diverting questions from the
audience and resorting to
attacking President Rupiah Banda and Vice
President George Kunda. Some went
as far as describing him as a “time
waster”.
It seems that there is a
lot of robust debate going on in Zambia.
Meanwhile youths from the rival
United Party for National Development (UPND)
in the North-Western Province
have urged Sata to withdraw from the
presidential race because of his
failing health.
Provincial youth chairperson Victor Lumayi said that judging
from the manner
the PF leader spoke at the rally in Solwezi, it was clear
that he was
unwell.
“I attended the rally and I think that Mr Sata’s
supporters should accept
that he is unwell. Most of us who attended the
rally can testify that he did
not look too well even from the way he was
speaking. The best would be to
ask him to step aside,” he said.
Civil
society organisations have also entered the fray, saying Sata’s family
is
not being fair by allowing him to contest the presidential polls when his
health was failing. The Forum for Leadership Search (FLS) and Leadership in
Development (Lid) have both advised Sata to withdraw from the campaigns for
the sake of his health.
FLS executive director Edwin Lifwekelo said the
PF members should ask their
president to take leave to avoid risking his
health further.
“Campaigns are very stressful and in his current state of
health he will not
manage. This is why he could only manage to stand for
only 20 minutes and
ended the rally in Solwezi.
“This is unusual for Mr
Sata and those that are forcing him to contest the
presidency are pushing
him too much,” Lifwekelo said.
In his defence Sata said: “I’m not sick, those
saying so are just lying.”
It seems that our leaders are never ill and
they never even get tired.
Gabon’s former President Omar Bongo died at the
age of 73, having been
president for 42 years during which time it was never
acknowledged that he
ever took a day off work for ill health.
When he
died the sequence of events was a classical farce. The Gabonese
government
announced that Bongo had temporarily suspended his official
duties and taken
time off to mourn the death of his wife and rest in Spain.
The international
media promptly announced that Bongo was seriously ill and
undergoing
treatment for cancer in a hospital in Barcelona.
The Gabonese government
yielded ground a bit and said that the president was
in Spain for a few days
of rest following the “intense emotional shock” of
his wife’s death, and was
“undergoing a medical checkup”.
The international media then reported the
president was being treated for
intestinal cancer, which they said had
reached “an advanced stage”.
The French media then reported that Bongo had
died in Spain. The government
of Gabon denied the report and maintained
their position. A spokesman
stated: “The presidency of the Gabonese Republic
would like to stress that
His Excellency Omar Bongo is not dead... He is
continuing his holiday in
Spain.”
Indeed, according to the spokesman, the
latest update he had was good
news –– and that Bongo was preparing to leave
the clinic. “We are getting
ready to welcome the head of state,” the
spokesman said.
Soon after this “good news”, the prime minister confirmed the
president’s
death in a written statement.
Then there was the first
president of Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba.
As his health failed, Tunisian
officials found ever more ingenious ways of
describing the president’s
incapacity: He had a chill, an indisposition,
exhaustion, a minor illness, a
respiratory ailment and a slight
deterioration in his health.
While
officially suffering from insomnia, Bourguiba often medicated himself
and
was a veritable walking drugstore between self-administered drugs and
the
medications his various physicians were prescribing.
Need we say
more?
Finally, Muckraker is always amazed by how quickly politicians are
immersed
in the trappings of power.
“You must never role model [sic] a
rich person who can’t explain how they
got rich. In the ANC we must not have
corrupt people as role models. Corrupt
means a simple thing –– you can’t
explain the big amount in your bank
account.”
These are the words of
African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL)
president Julius Malema in
2009.
“In less than a year you have got everything. Yesterday you were down
and
out, but today you have everything which shows in your fancy dress
code,”
Malema said, chiding fellow comrades for accumulating ill-gained
wealth.
Fast-forward to 2011 and Malema who is dubbed now a “Tenderpreneur”
is
facing allegations that he has been paid “millions of rands” in cash,
received in exchange for favours to businesspeople, into the Ratang Family
Trust. Now he could afford a lavish lifestyle on a R20 000 a month salary he
claims to receive as ANCYL president.
He claims that the controversial
family trust fund is being used to “fund
charitable causes”.
He
unsuccessfully tried to gag City Press from publishing details about his
family trust.
In his affidavit, Malema said the publication of these
allegations would
cause him irreparable harm. It would injure his reputation
and “lower me in
the estimation of right-thinking members of
society”.
The damage is already done Comrade Malema!
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011
18:30
INEVITABLY, it must be assumed that government in general, and the
Minister
of Youth Development, Economic Empowerment and Indigenisation,
Saviour
Kasukuwere, in particular, are imbued with a death wish for the
Zimbabwean
economy.
Unceasingly, they pursue policies which can have no
results other than to
discourage and demotivate the foreign investment which
is greatly needed.
Without it, the economy is devoid of any prospects of the
much-needed upturn
which will progressively diminish the widespread poverty
and distress which
afflict the majority of Zimbabweans.
The
promoters of economic indigenisation pursue this desirable objective in
the
most destructive ways possible, in total oblivion of the negative
consequences of their so doing. They demonstrate an unmitigated inability
to learn from past errors, and instead not only repeat those errors, but
intensify them.
In 2007 they promoted the Indigenisation and Economic
Empowerment Bill
through the legislature, and the President then belatedly
and
unconstitutionally signed it into law in March 2008, and subsequently
when
the minister initiated the equally unlawful implementation regulations
in
2010 and 2011.
They contemptuously ignored all the informed
advice on the disastrous
impacts that that legislation and regulations would
have upon the economy,
and upon the already critical circumstances of most
Zimbabweans.
Progressively, economic indigenisation has been pursued
aggressively, but
has been devoid of any positive results, following
recurrent issuance of
regulations by the minister. He has done so to an
extent not only enabled
by the legislation, but to an extent that has
resulted in two rulings by the
parliamentary portfolio committee that such
regulations were in conflict
with Zimbabwe’s constitution, and were
therefore unlawful.
Insofar as the minister and diverse activist
groups were concerned, these
rulings were like water on a duck’s back, as
also all the representations,
submissions and advice of the private sector.
Instead, the disastrous
policies have not only been consistently pursued,
but with greater vigour,
and more and more fomenting of investor
disinterest.
Whilst almost without exception investors are very
willing to have
indigenous co-investors, they are not prepared to dedicate
their capital
resources, their technological expertise, and their
established
international markets into ventures in which they are
subordinated
minorities.
They are not willing to be deprived of any
authority and control over their
investments, and to be subject to
potentially authoritarian dictates of
others. This is especially (but not
exclusively) so when their prescribed
indigenous co-investors are
governmentally designated entities, which to all
intents and purposes are
government itself.
Not only has Kasukuwere been recurrently, and
determinedly deaf to the
investor concerns, but he has dogmatically pursued
his ill-conceived
indigenisation intents.
Compounding all the
intending investors’ disillusionment and growing
reluctance to invest, last
week he intensified his pursuit of his
determination to force non-indigenous
disinvestment.
He informed the annual congress of the Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries
that 700 foreign controlled companies had submitted
indigenisation plans,
but that 175 of those submitted failed to provide a
minimum of 51%
indigenous Zimbabwean ownership.
Their proposals were
therefore rejected. Subsequently he announced that 15
of the companies
concerned had been given an ultimatum that they submit,
within two weeks, a
new and acceptable indigenisation plan, failing which
their operating
licences would be cancelled.
In doing so, he disregarded that the
unlawful legislation had prescribed a
five year period for implementation of
the indigenisation objectives, and
that in his subsequent, equally unlawful
regulations, the mining sector had
until September 30 within which to
comply with the legislation.
The 15 targetted companies include two
internationally-owned banks (Barclays
Bank and Standard Chartered Bank), six
mining companies (Murowa Diamonds,
Pan American Mining, Zimplats, Blanket
Mine, Mimosa Holdings and Duration
Gold), and seven industries (including
British American Tobacco, Nestle and
Cargill).
Some of the mining
companies last week received copies of letters addressed
to the Ministry of
Mines and Mining Development, issued by the minister,
calling for revocation
of the mines’ operating licences, but most of the
companies had not even
received any prior notification of the rejection of
their indigenisation
plans, and others only became aware of the minister’s
intentions and action
through the national media.
Kasukuwere’s attack on the two banks has
been, and continues to be,
exceptionally prejudicial. Over the last few
years the levels of public
confidence in the security of the banking sector
has been an ongoing
decline, originally triggered by the constrained access
to legitimately held
foreign currency, and by the demonetisation of
Zimbabwe’s currency.
Innumerable businesses were prejudiced by the
failure and collapse of
several banks, as was much of the
populace.
As a result, more and more sought to circumvent the banking
system,
preferring to transact wholly in cash, and retaining their limited
resources
in business safes, wardrobes, and under mattresses. This
compounded
financial sector illiquidity, with consequentially negative
effects upon
commerce and industry and all other economic sectors, and
therefore upon the
economy as a whole.
Slowly, in the main thanks
to the endeavours of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ), confidence was
being restored, but that has now again been undermined
by the minister’s
actions. Moreover, it is not within the authority of the
minister to direct
the cancellation of licences. Issuance and cancellation
of banking licences
is wholly within the preserve of RBZ, and this was
reaffirmed by the RBZ
govenor in an assertive statement issued by him in
response to the
minister’s demands.
However, the damage done to the public’s
confidence in the banking sector,
and to the already constrained
circumstances of banks accessing offshore
lines of credit, is pronounced,
and will not speedily be reversed.
Similarly, the mining sector
repercussions are severe, with a virtually
immediate cessation of
development and investment. Concurrently, the
already low levels of
confidence prevailing in all economic sectors have
been further
weakened.
As a result, the growth in mining sector production which had
been
justifiably anticipated, with concomitant downstream economic benefits,
is
now in great jeopardy, and the foreshadowed slow and progressive poverty
alleviation horrendously retarded.
In addition, there has already
been a significant, adverse impact upon the
share values of those companies
listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, with
some of the shares falling by as
much as 17% in a matter of days. This has
severe effects upon investors in
general, and pension funds and insurance
companies in particular, as well as
being further discouragement to new,
much-needed investment.
Of
especial concern is the extent that Kasukuwere appears to consider
himself
to be a law unto himself, with his repeated issuance of regulations
beyond
his authority and in conflict with the over-riding Act, as well as
his
apparent total disregard for the rulings of the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee. He could well find himself confronted with major litigation as
investors strive to protect their lawful rights.
His focus needs
redirection towards effective, constructive, and equitable
indigenisation,
instead of dogmatic pursuit of the irrational and unlawful.
He needs to
ensure that brain is engaged before putting mouth in gear!
Until he does so,
the indigenisation insanity endures and intensifies.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011
18:25
Paidamoyo Muzulu
DEATH is saddening and a mystery even to
those soundly rooted in the
Christian faith because it conjures up things
unseen and unknown to mortal
minds.
Although death is inevitable, there
are some extremely famous episodes of
controversy, mystery, scepticism and
uncertainty involving the death of some
people.
General Solomon
Mujuru’s death last week falls into some of the well-known,
unexplained
deaths of senior Zanu PF officials dating back to the liberation
struggle.
These baffling deaths have more or less occurred
whenever Zanu PF was in
political turmoil and members were pitted against
each other for supremacy
in the party.
Mujuru’s mysterious death
has created furious speculation and anger among
some of his relatives and
associates who allege that he was the victim of a
professional hit in the
ongoing volatile Zanu PF succession battle.
His death has resulted in
quite some mayhem and police say they are still
trying to piece together how
the highly decorated soldier and Zanu PF
strongman died in such tragic
circumstances.
While the real cause of death still remains to be
established, it is one of
the most mysterious deaths of a high profile
Zimbabwean, further triggering
many unanswered questions. Suicide, accident
and murder have all been
speculated on.
There is no doubt that
this case seems to get more baffling with each new
speculation.
As the country waits with baited breath for police
to complete their
investigations into Mujuru’s ghastly death, a relook at
previous well-known
similar mysterious deaths cannot be
avoided.
So many unexplained deaths of high ranking Zanu PF military
and political
officials have occurred since the protracted liberation
struggle in the
1960s.
Mujuru’s death evokes memories of the
baffling deaths of other liberation
war icons such as Zanu chairman Herbert
Chitepo, Zanla commander Josiah
Magama Tongogara, Zipra commander Alfred
Nikita Mangena, Zapu second vice
president Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo, Zanu PF
rising star Zororo Duri,
Brigadier-General Paul Armstrong Gunda and several
other inexplicable
deaths.
Chitepo was assassinated in March 1975
in Lusaka, Zambia, when a car bomb
placed in his Volkswagen Beetle exploded.
Tongogara was killed in a car
crash in Mozambique in 1979; Mangena died in a
landmine blast in Lusaka,
Zambia in 1978; JZ Moyo was killed by a parcel
bomb in Zambia in 1977; Duri
died in a car accident near Rusape, along the
Mutare-Harare road in 1996 and
Gunda perished in a mysterious rail accident
in 2007 near Marondera.
The then Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda
instituted an inquiry into Chitepo’s
death and the report was damning on
Zanu PF’s infighting. Other documentary
evidence from former Rhodesian
intelligence operatives claims that the
deaths were the Rhodesian
government’s hatchet job.
Lieutenant Colonel Ron Reid-Daly, officer
commanding Selous Scouts Regiment
in the Rhodesian army, claimed in his
autobiography “The Legend of the
Selous Scouts” that Rhodesian Central
Intelligence Organisation masterminded
the assassination of Chitepo and
subsequently planted documentary evidence
blaming Zanu
members.
The Zambian inquiry also fingered Tongogara in Chitepo’s
assassination. On
the records, Chitepo was by a car bomb, but the
investigation surrounding
his death is perhaps historical. Several inquiries
were set up to probe his
death but one thing that continuously impeded the
investigation was the lack
of considerable evidence.
After
Tongogara’s death, Zanu PF released a statement by an undertaker, a Mr
R
Silke, who said the guerilla commander’s injuries were consistent with a
car
accident. No autopsy results have ever been released to support the
undertaker’s claims.
Scepticism still surrounds Tongogara’s death
even to this day as people keep
on having their own versions. Similar to
Tongogara, the rumour mill has been
abuzz as people query Mujuru’s death in
an inferno. There are many who
refuse to believe that Tongogara died in car
accident and that Mujuru died
in a house fire. As of now, nobody can give a
picture of what really
happened.
The deaths of JZ Moyo and other
military commanders Nikita Mangena and
Lookout Masuku still beg some
answers.
The country is also yet to be presented with convincing
evidence that the
deaths of former Defence minister Moven Mahachi, former
Industry and
Commerce minister Chris Ushewokunze, army Captain Edwin Nleya
and former
Zanu PF political commissars Border Gezi and Elliot Manyika were
just
accidents.
However, Zanu PF leaders have continually argued
that all these inexplicable
deaths were genuine accidents and those that
occurred during the liberation
struggle were by the Rhodesian
forces.
Zanu PF politburo member and one of the only two surviving
members of the
initial Dare ReChimurenga, Kumbirai Kangai said: “The trend
of a curse looks
like it is there but I believe these are genuine, though
difficult to
explain.”
Christopher Mutsvangwa said the deaths
were sad and inexplicable but were
not a curse on the party.
“I
am not a superstitious person,” said Mutsvangwa. “I am a Marxist and
atheist. These are sad events, but Tongogara is the saddest so far.
Accidents happen anywhere in the most unexpected circumstances,” he
said.
The official reason behind the deaths of these iconic
Zimbabweans is often
doubted since there are more twists and turns involved.
Even President
Robert Mugabe was at pains to express his feelings about
Mujuru’s death at
his burial at the National Heroes Acre.
“The
tragic occurrence that has brought us all here will forever baffle us,”
said
Mugabe. “For a very long time, we shall continue to ask: why, why,
why?” he
added.
It remains to be seen if there is political will to fully
investigate Mujuru’s
death and make all findings public. As long as that
doesn’t happen,
Zimbabweans will continue to speculate on these mysterious
deaths as
political assassinations.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011
18:15
By Zifikile Gambhaya
THE inauguration of the Government of
Nation Unity (GNU) in early 2009
raised expectations regarding the role of
women in Zimbabwe’s new political
dispensation. With women comprising more
than 52% of the population and with
the Global Political Agreement (GPA)
containing a clear commitment to gender
parity, in particular the need to
appoint women to strategic cabinet posts,
hopes were high that women would
finally be given a major role which
reflected their critical participation
in Zimbabwe’s struggles.
However, more than two years into the life
of the GNU, these hopes have not
been realised.
The coalition
government has failed to appoint a significant number of women
to cabinet
and other influential positions and has also failed to enhance
the rights of
women more generally. Indeed, what has happened since 2009
calls to mind the
still unfulfilled promises that were made during the war
of liberation
concerning the emancipation of women.
Accounts of the liberation war are
replete with the contradictions that
confronted women — even during the
process of fighting for black people’s
emancipation.
For
instance, while male politicians stressed the glamour of men and women
wielding guns and fighting side by side during the war, the reality was that
women were highly oppressed and had no say in matters that directly impacted
on their lives. Women remained in “feminised” spaces during the war,
“serving as auxiliaries and as women” (Nhongo-Simbanegavi, in Zambezia,
2005: 97).
Meanwhile, the men proceeded to “tougher” zones to earn
their military
colours as “real men,” fighting a “real war.” Therefore, it
was men who
confronted the enemy, men who made decisions, regardless of
their impact on
women and men who wielded real military -- and later
political — power.
It is unfortunate that this state of affairs has
continued into the
post-independence and post-GPA eras, despite official
rhetoric to the
contrary. Commenting on the continued sidelining of women
after more than 20
years of political independence, S J Ndlovu-Gatsheni
(Zambezia, 2003:238)
made this important observation:
“What
Zimbabwean women are failing to understand is that the notion of
gender
equality may well have been a liberation myth, popularised only to
mobilise
women into the nationalist struggle. The male-dominated leadership
of
Zimbabwe can no longer perpetuate this myth of equality between men and
women, as it is no longer politically necessary in order to appease women.
The men have now safely entrenched themselves into power.”
This
has come as a rude awakening to women who actively supported the war,
since
the liberation struggle was only successful because of the mass
support of
women who provided food and shelter for the guerrillas, smuggled
and hid
equipment and weapons, and also acted as crucial lookouts and
messengers
(chimbwidos) for the guerrillas.
Coming almost 30 years after
independence, the GPA gave the political
leadership a golden opportunity to
redress past imbalances, whose roots lie
in colonial history and culture. It
is a fact that colonialism reinforced
African patriarchal values and in some
cases “invented” its own, which it
ascribed to African culture, resulting in
a severe distortion of the
position and condition of African
women.
It is sad to note that the GNU has failed to seize the opportunity
presented
by the GPA to redress these colonial distortions and promote
genuine
equality. As the Financial Gazette highlighted in 2010, out of 50
cabinet
posts, a mere eight are occupied by women. Equally disturbing is the
fact
that few of the women who are in government are situated in centres of
political influence. Apart from Joice Mujuru (one of the two Vice
Presidents) and Thokozani Khupe (one of the two Deputy Prime Ministers),
only Theresa.
As observed by Jealous Mawarire (quoted by Njabulo
Ncube in Financial
Gazette, 2010), the Ministry of Gender is headed by Dr
Olivia Muchena as if
to say gender issues are “better administered by
women.” And as for
Misihairabwi-Mushonga’s post as Minister of Regional
Integration and
International Cooperation, Mawarire posits that she was
hired to “give a
beautiful face to an ugly government” in an attempt to
“lure international
partners.”
Women have only a minimal say in
ministries that design policies that
directly impact their livelihoods and
wellbeing. Their views are not likely
to be heard when tough political and
socio-economic issues are debated and
decisions are taken, because these key
spheres of influence remain the
preserve of men. It is also worth noting
that the poor representation of
women at cabinet level is also observable at
parliamentary and local
government levels. Furthermore, permanent
secretaries and ambassadors are
still predominantly men.
It is
depressing and dispiriting to realise that women have gained so little
under
the GPA — and that there has not been even a basic apology from the
system
or from the political parties about their failure to fully implement
the
GPA’s commitments to women.
Equally baffling is the fact that there does
not seem to be — or have been —
a sustained push by women themselves for
real political empowerment. Women
have neither effectively argued for nor
lobbied for a meaningful quota of
women in influential decision-making
positions.
This state of affairs might be a result of the “diehard
negative attitudes
about women” that have been “acquired from centuries of
tradition and
practice, and continue to colour and cloud the thinking of
many men as well
as women themselves” (Made and Lagerstrom, in Stoneman,
1988: 159). It could
also be a legacy of previously unfulfilled promises to
women. But whatever
the reason, the lack of effective action by women points
to the unfortunate
complicity of women in their own
marginalisation.
The situation goes against current thinking among
prominent African women
theorists, like Clenora Hudson Weems, whose Africana
Womanism theory, unlike
western feminism, is rooted in African history and
culture. She advocates
for a concerted struggle by African men, women and
children “for human
parity”.
This illustrates the need for Zimbabwean
men and women to work together for
the common good of society, since it is
only by waging a male-female
collective struggle that Zimbabweans can make
meaningful strides towards a
positive transformation of their
lives.
It calls for a holistic approach to the empowerment of women, as
opposed to
a dualistic one, because it is the responsibility of both men and
women to
ensure that their society survives.
It is important to
conclude that the continued marginalisation of women is
bound to have a
negative impact on women’s efforts to cultivate positive
self-esteem, a
sense of self-worth, and self-confidence.
That is why it is important for
government, political parties and society at
large to ensure that the issue
of women’s participation in decision-making
and their political empowerment
goes beyond lip service and tokenism. For
their part, women should not
fashion their empowerment after Eurocentric
feminism, but after the historic
role played by the triumphant women of
Africa, since, throughout Africa,
women have been a force to reckon with in
national
affairs.
Zifikile Gambhaya is an Associate Professor in the
Department of African
Languages and Literature at the University of
Zimbabwe.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011
18:12
By Gwinyayi Dzinesa /Webster Zambara
THERE have been some
serious challenges with the implementation of the
Global Political
Agreement. The MDC formations have persistently raised
concerns about the
appointment of provincial governors, diplomats, senior
public servants,
Attorney General Johannes Tomana and Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono, as
well as the arrest of some of its MPs.
Zanu PF, for its part, has complained
about the continuation of sanctions
imposed on many of its senior figures,
the reported establishment of
parallel government structures by Prime
Minister Tsvangirai’s office and the
generally anti-Zanu PF radio broadcasts
that are still being beamed into
Zimbabwe from abroad.
These
issues could, and should, have been monitored and resolved. But there
was no
independent body to do it. Arguably, the main mistake Sadc made was
that it
did not establish impartial structures to effectively monitor and
evaluate
the implementation of the GPA, which it had so painstakingly helped
to
negotiate.
Instead, a Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee
(Jomic), comprising
members of the three coalition partners, was established
to ensure the
parties’ compliance with the GPA. But Jomic has been a
toothless bulldog.
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga of the MDC-M and a
co-chairperson of Jomic
admitted:
“Clearly, we have not been as
effective as we would have liked to be,
considering our mandate. When we
started we were effective but we could not
maintain the
effectiveness...There was also little interaction, if any,
between us and
Sadc and yet Sadc is supposed to rely on us to assess the
situation in the
country (Newsday, January 23 2011).”
The Jomic arrangement was flawed
from the start because it made the three
political parties both players and
referees, leaving full implementation of
the GPA vulnerable to
non-compliance by any of the parties since there was
no effective external
supervision by Sadc. Perhaps the regional body
deliberately intended not to
be seen as infringing on Zimbabwe’s sovereignty
in a continent where
sovereignty is the last line of defence and in a region
in which elite
political camaraderie still holds sway.
Whatever the reason, relying
on self-monitoring by the parties to the GPA
meant that Sadc was unable to
assert its authority over the implementation
of the agreement. This has been
a determining factor in the parties’ —
especially Zanu PF’s — non-compliance
with the GPA, which has on numerous
occasions threatened to derail the
entire transitional arrangement.
It is critical that the guarantors
of the GPA realise that they have to hold
Zanu PF and the two MDC formations
directly accountable for fully
implementing the agreement — or the crisis
will drag on and on. And it seems
as if Sadc’s position might be hardening.
In a positive step in January
2011, South African President Jacob Zuma’s
international affairs advisor,
Lindiwe Zulu, stressed that:
“The
issues around the implementation of the GPA have to be taken seriously,
because they are critical in creating a conducive environment for elections.
In fact the roadmap for Zimbabwe’s elections will be based on the Sadc
principles and guidelines governing democratic elections, the GPA and other
local factors…It’s therefore important that the GPA is implemented and we
have emphasised that to all the political parties...” (Newsday, January 19
2011).
A few months later, a troika summit of the Sadc Organ on
Politics, Defence,
and Security Cooperation (OPDSC) in Zambia noted its
“disappointment” with,
and expressed its “impatience” at, the slow pace of
fundamental progress and
the evident threat of a return to Zimbabwe’s recent
dark past (Sadc
communiqué). The summit undertook to appoint a team of
officials to join the
facilitation team and work with Jomic “to ensure
monitoring, evaluation and
implementation of the GPA”. (Sadc
communiqué)
Hopefully, the team will help to oversee the full
implementation of the
agreement, including the creation of a conducive
environment for free and
fair elections and the adoption of a credible, new
constitution. Indeed, the
constitution-making process is now a year behind
schedule and provides
arguably the clearest example of Sadc’s ineffective
intervention post the
inauguration of the GNU.
Lessons could have
been learned from Kenya, where the process was completely
different.
Following the post-election violence in 2007, mediation by an AU
Panel of
Eminent African Personalities chaired by former United Nations
Secretary
General Kofi Annan also led to the establishment of a coalition
government
as a means to institute comprehensive political reforms.
But,
crucially, civil society was tasked with monitoring the unity
government.
Social Consulting, a non-governmental organisation with
expertise in
governance and social development, was contracted to
independently monitor
the implementation of the Kenya Peace Accord and
provide regular reports to
the High Level Panel of Prominent Persons on any
achievements as well as any
challenges or issues that needed to be
addressed. The organisation reflected
that:
The Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation is
in the
process of setting up a Mediation Unit, whose mandate will be to deal
with
conflicts within and among member states. This stems from a growing
recognition that mediation has been a “gaping hole” in the regional body’s
efforts to prevent the outbreak of violence between opposing
parties.
Over the years, Sadc’s mediation has been on an ad hoc
basis, with eminent
southern African leaders — such as former presidents
Nelson Mandela and
Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Frederick Chiluba of Zambia,
Eduardo Dos Santos
of Angola and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique — being
called upon to
intervene in troubled countries like the Democratic Republic
of the Congo,
Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Madagascar.
The establishment
of Sadc’s mediation architecture, which is in sync with
Chapter VIII of the
UN Charter that encourages the development of peaceful
settlement of local
disputes through regional arrangements, should help to
enhance coherence,
synergy and the effectiveness of its efforts. But the
envisaged mediation
structures should be created as part of a comprehensive
regional policy and
strategy for preventive diplomacy.
This is important since experience
the world over has demonstrated that
preventive diplomacy tools — such as
conflict prevention, mediation, good
offices, fact-finding missions,
negotiation and targeted development
activities — can be more useful and
cost-effective, as well as being less
risky, than military activity in
delivering desired peace dividends.
In the absence of a dedicated
Sadc mediation architecture, the Sadc
Secretariat in Botswana should ideally
have played a more meaningful role in
support of the intra-Zimbabwe
dialogue.
However, there is a consensus that the work of the Directorate
of the Sadc
OPDSC has been undermined by its “small (and weak)
administrative and
infrastructure and capacity” as well as its insufficient
human and financial
capacities.
This is partly explained by the fact
that divergent national security
agendas and the different priorities of
member states in relation to state
(regime) security versus human security
influenced the establishment of a
“minimalist” directorate.
It is
important that efforts are made to strengthen the capacity of the
directorate with additional human and financial resources in order to
provide more effective, responsive and efficient support for Sadc
peacemaking efforts. And it is just as important for Sadc to ensure that the
planned mediation unit is supported by adequate human and financial
resources to facilitate effective administration and
management.
Against this backdrop, Zuma’s appointment of a
three-member facilitation
team to assist him in monitoring Zimbabwe’s
embattled coalition government —
comprising Zulu, political advisor Charles
Nqakula and special envoy Mac
Maharaj — illustrates Sadc’s current
institutional inadequacies.
While Zuma and his team have so far
managed to keep the “marriage of
convenience’ in Zimbabwe from ending in
divorce, his strategy has also
brought a new dynamic to the whole process.
The mediation is now largely
viewed as a bilateral issue between South
Africa and Zimbabwe, more so when
one considers that Zuma and his team all
come from the same political
party — the African National Congress — a close
ally of Zanu PF.
Southern Africa has established a normative
framework for the conduct of
credible and peaceful democratic elections,
including the Sadc Parliamentary
Forum Norms and Standards (2001), the
Electoral Institute of Southern
Africa/Electoral Commissions’ Forum (2003)
and the Sadc Principles and
Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections
(2004). These regional guidelines
commit Sadc member states to follow agreed
best election practices.
However, the guidelines call for the
resolution of election-related
disputes — like those in Lesotho in 2007 and
Zimbabwe — in accordance with
their own national laws. This means that Sadc
is hamstrung in this crucial
area since it can only encourage member states
to adhere to the Sadc
principles. It cannot enforce their
compliance.
Therefore, it is critical that the “roadmap” to credible,
transparent and
peaceful polls — both for the constitutional referendum and
subsequent
elections — that Sadc and the three Zimbabwe principals are busy
crafting
addresses the challenges inherent in Zimbabwe’s body politic and
conforms to
Sadc’s regional guidelines.
The Sadc mediation in
Zimbabwe provided a litmus test for the regional body’s
capacity to resolve
conflicts using mediation as a constructive and
non-violent tool. There is
no doubt that some successes were scored and that
Zimbabwe’s imminent
implosion was halted.
Notwithstanding this, three critical issues
have emerged. Firstly, the
development of Sadc’s mediation capacity is still
a work in progress.
Important institutional gaps were exposed during the
process in Zimbabwe,
particularly the lack of an effective monitoring
mechanism.
Secondly, the Zimbabwe case has provided lessons that
should inform future
mediation exercises. Among many issues, the process
highlighted the
following major concerns:
Limiting the
process to only three political parties excluded important
players such as
civil society, labour and smaller political parties, and
reinforced the
politics of exclusivity that has characterised Zanu PF rule
and is against
the dictates of participatory democracy;
The result was a political
settlement that did not timeously recognise
the immediate needs of specific
victims of the crisis, such as refugees and
internally displaced people,
women and other victims of politically
motivated violence, and lacked an
effective transitional justice mechanism
since the Organ on National Healing
and Reconciliation was stillborn; and,
Leaving political parties, who
had been at each other’s throats for
years, to implement the GPA on their
own and monitor themselves through
Jomic was probably Sadc’s most serious
misjudgement to date.
And finally, South Africa has been put between a
rock and a hard place. On
one hand, the country does not want to be seen as
assuming a hegemonic role
in the region, yet on the other, Zimbabwe would
not be where it is today
without the ability of South Africa’s leaders,
Mbeki and Zuma, to influence
events.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25
August 2011 18:47
ZIMBABWE continues to fail to revive industry and
create jobs for the more
than 80 % unemployed people in the country. That is
the reality Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai lamented at the ZCTU
congress.
“I have traversed the country’s provinces and visited many
factories and
industries, particularly those industries that made life tick
in some of our
major cities and towns. Textile industries, mines and major
conglomerates
have basically died with disastrous consequences to the
workers and the
towns where those industries are located, “said the
PM.
He warned that Kadoma, Chegutu, Bulawayo and other major cities
and towns
risk complete de-industrialisation if there was no effort to
resuscitate
industry and create employment. But the more interesting point
he made
follows:
“At the centre of our crisis are factories using
antiquated machinery
procured in the 1940s, even in this brave 21st century
where modern
equipment and technology could go a long way in maximising
production.”
This is where the PM, who emphasised that he’s still a
worker at heart,
touched on a controversial point. In fact, if one is
pro-labour, which the
PM said he still is, they have to be very careful
about the technology
bandwagon.
True, modern technology has done
wonders for business, producing masses of
products at previously unheard of
speeds.
But we must remember that those industrialised grew their
technology phase
by phase, beginning with preliminary technology and
upgraded with time.
Above all, the businessmen embraced technology
because it reduced the wage
and salary bills. Businesses say machines don’t
demand pay increases, don’t
require maternity leave, and do not need medical
aid, pension etc.
But on the contrary, what we need in Zimbabwe are
as many jobs as possible,
and the less technology-dependent the jobs the
better. And what better way
than to start on the desperately needed
infrastructure that is needed to
provide a platform for
development.
Yes, some say technology creates its own jobs. But these
tend to be highly
specialised jobs and expensive to create, up to US$500 000
per job. If we
had more people digging with pick and shovel, for all the
trenching that is
going on in the country, that would create the much-needed
jobs.
Such jobs may be created in constructing roads, bridges, dams etc
which are
truly in demand in this country. Sounds simplistic, but Rome
wasn’t built by
leapfrogging.
The adopt technology or die maxim
has been learnt further credence by
Bretton Woods backed economists who say
that in order for Africa to catch up
with the rest of world economically it
must leap frog.
Great pronouncements, especially if you are saying this
at an
all-expenses-paid workshop from the Ngo sector. One risks being shot
at from
all angles on this one, but really, do we need high tech in
Zim?
Is our problem that we can’t keep up with demand such that we need
more mass
production machinery?
If we look at countries like
Japan, post World War II, whose economy can be
said to have leapfrogged, we
see use of basic machinery and cheap labour to
provide the economic base.
But these leapfrogging countries went through
each stage of development,
only at faster pace.
The key is to go through each necessary phase. That
way, it also helps build
a culture of understanding the new technology with
which we are growing.
Leapfrogging is like expecting a baby to go
straight from just being able to
lie on its back, kicking and punching the
air, to walking, without sitting
up, crawling or any other phases in
between.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011
18:45
Dingilizwe Ntuli
THERE are plenty of key questions
that must be answered on the gruesome
death of former army chief and Zanu PF
politburo guru Solomon Mujuru in the
early hours of Tuesday 16 August.
Something happened at his Alamein Farm in
Beatrice on that fateful morning,
and we don’t know what that is but we hope
police investigators will soon
tell the nation the full results of their
probe.
Although police
have yet to determine the cause of death and the blaze, we
are surprised
that we haven’t even heard results of preliminary
investigations.
Preliminary investigations serve as an assurance to the
public that police
are on top of the situation, but in the Mujuru case,
nothing has been
forthcoming 10 days after the inferno and six days after
his emotional
burial at the National Heroes Acre.
What we hear are police
spokespersons parroting that tired line that
“investigations are
underway.”
It is disappointing and alarming that the police have not
come forward with
more information about this fatal “suspicious” fire,
except insinuations
through the state media that it was caused by
candlelight. We understand
that the police must remain tight-lipped as the
investigation continues, but
they can surely issue a basic update without
revealing finer details of the
investigations or possible leads. We would
have thought that by now the
nation would at least have been appraised of
the cause of the deadly blaze
that ripped through Mujuru’s
farmhouse.
The candle theory that was peddled when news of the tragedy
was first
reported remains highly unconvincing.
By now, the
police’s forensic experts and other experts from the Fire
Brigade and Zesa
should have told us about the circumstances surrounding the
fire, leaving
forensic scientists to investigate the possible cause of
Mujuru’s
death.
If it was so simple to positively identify Mujuru’s badly charred
body, what
then makes it so hard to determine the cause of the fire? We are
very
surprised that a body which was burnt almost to ashes was positively
identified as that of Mujuru before any tests to determine the identity. Who
positively identified a body that had been burnt close to ashes by merely
looking at it?
There have been numerous cases of mistaken identity of
bodies where people
have buried the wrong body, leading to exhumations in
this country, but it’s
interesting to note that in this case, a body that
had been reduced close to
ashes was quickly and positively identified before
any tests.
Could this explain why on that fateful day people freely
went in and out of
the burnt farmhouse even before forensic investigations
had been conducted?
Why did the police not secure the farmhouse by
cordoning it off to prevent
onlookers and the morbidly curious from
potentially compromising the scene
or any pertinent evidence?
This
would have ensured that any evidence that may have been left behind was
not
compromised by the understandably emotional relatives, friends and
comrades,
thereby helping the police’s forensic investigators do their work
before
potentially crucial evidence was tempered with.
Quickly securing the
farmhouse would have also ensured that any evidence was
meticulously
searched for by forensic investigators to get to the bottom of
the possible
cause of both the fire and death.
The investigators would have determined
this by looking for physical
evidence at the scene that may have been
contacted with lips or fingers and
therefore deposited as fingerprint or
DNA. This can only be determined if
investigators collected as much physical
evidence as possible from the scene
and thoroughly analysed it to get
answers.
Since our police investigators are adamant that they have
the requisite
expertise to carry out such complex probes, we will continue
to hold them to
task and push for many unanswered questions to clear the air
on what exactly
happened on the night Mujuru died.
Investigators must
tell us whether Mujuru was alive during the fire or the
blaze broke out
after he was already dead. We also want to know the possible
time of his
death and how long he had been dead when the fire was eventually
extinguished. They must tell us if there were any factors that rendered the
former top soldier unable to escape the conflagration.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 25 August 2011 18:43
GIVEN the late
retired army commander General Solomon Mujuru’s pride of
place in Zimbabwe’s
liberation struggle history and vast influence in local
politics, his
mysterious death was bound to cause hue and cry across the
nation.
After
Mujuru’s death all sorts of stories, accounts and explanations
naturally
followed simply because he was a towering figure in our history
and current
politics. His tentacles spread across the political and
corporate
landscape.
This explains the hype and uproar over his death. Some say
he died in a fire
accident caused either by a candle or an electrical fault,
others suggest it
was a case of asphyxiation, smothering or burking which
all imply painful
suffocation.
Still others subscribe to
conspiracy theories built around Zanu PF’s
cut-throat power struggles and
business deals in which Mujuru was deeply
involved. Yet others say whatever
the case, it was not an accident but
cold-blooded murder. Police say they
are still investigating the issue.
People, including the man in the Mufakose
omnibus, and Vice-President Joice
Mujuru herself want
answers.
Such is the nature of society and people when confronted
with mysterious
events. There is nothing wrong with people talking,
discussing and debating
such issues in a free and democratic
society.
This brings us to remarks by President Robert Mugabe’s
spokesman George
Chambara at the weekend in which he fumed about stories in
the media, mainly
this paper and its sister publication NewsDay, on Mujuru’s
death. Charamba
said stories indicating there could have been foul play in
Mujuru’s death
were “foolish ideas to create violence in society” by
“stoking the fire of
hatred”. He said remarks by the former owner of
Mujuru’s house on it being
“fireproof” was a “hare-brained
theory”.
Since he is neither a government nor a Zanu PF spokesman,
Charamba was
clearly speaking on behalf of Mugabe.
However, we
find his remarks, which we wonder whether they reflect Mugabe’s
thinking,
not only sinister and absurd but also appalling and unhelpful.
They reek of
an evil agenda by enemies of open society to asphyxiate press
freedom and
get journalists punished for merely doing their job.
Charamba,
notorious for being the architect of repressive media laws and
bereft of
progressive ideas in the field of media development, basically
wants to
reinforce the current tyranny of thought crime and create an
Orwellian
dystopia through repression and fear. And by issuing such paranoid
threats,
he intends to scare away journalists from probing Mujuru’s death.
The
question is, why is he afraid of journalists investigating the issue?
Does
Charamba, and presumably his boss, have something to hide? Isn’t it
they say
the guilty are always afraid? And who is Charamba anyway to block
journalists from probing the issue when Mujuru’s family, in particular his
wife VP Mujuru, relatives, friends and political allies say they suspect
foul play and want answers, not a cover-up?
And besides, how can
Charamba in all seriousness ask “why are these
questions being asked? Why
ahead of the results of a forensic
investigation?” Doesn’t he know what
the role of journalists is? Even if
he is used to toadying state media hacks
who don’t ask inquisitive
questions, he must know it’s precisely the job of
journalists to ask
questions and investigate issues in the public interest.
We appreciate he is
not a media expert or professional, but he must know the
basics. Maybe that’s
why his ignorant interventions and meddling have
destroyed the public media.
Moreover, why was Charamba alarmed by
comments that Mujuru’s house was
largely fire-resistant? His allegation
journalists want to cause hatred and
violence is clearly ridiculous. Who has
boasted of having degrees in
violence? Isn’t it Charamba’s boss whose
corrupt and incompetent regime has
ruined the country?
We have
always been against violence because we know very well it is
absolutely
impossible for anyone who claims to be rational and civilised to
outrightly
defend violence. Violence, including threats against journalists,
by
Charamba and those of his ilk is a sign of barbarism; it interrupts
useful
public discourse and progress, and therefore it is not
justifiable.
Charamba even had the folly to mimic Jonathan Moyo to
call journalists
“little-informed and uneducated” without any sense of
irony. He forgets the
same Moyo once described him as “a poorly-schooled
wordsmith”, among other
nasty things. Charamba must wise up and think before
talking. Things always
look different in the cold light of day.